Whatsoever
Things Are Trueby Dan CoburnPastor, Emmanuel
Baptist Churchpastordan@mtida.netI had a log truck in Elk City. It was state of the art. A 1966 buffalo
cab International DF 400 with a head snapping 318 Detroit which a friend
of mine passionately referred to as "the converter" cause (he said) it
converted diesel to noise. The guy who gave me my first load
of logs told me: "If you want to drive that Jimmy, you have to slam your
finger in the door first thing each morning to get into the mood". I still
wonder to what degree he was joking.
It had a 5 and a 4, and never warmed up in the winter. One of
my sons loved to go with me and let the air out of the seat whenever I
stepped out. Anyway, in what seemed like "Camelot", I would haul
logs (which I loved to do), eating a lunch prepared for me by my young
wife, the contents of which was always a surprise, and return home to my
two kids who when they heard my truck coming, were all over it.
I always seemed to forget to eat all my little candy bars and as they
rifled through my lunch box, I would act as though they were getting one
over on me. This was repeated countless times, and was one of the best
parts of my life.
Then one day something terrible happened. It was more than a trend,
and marked a sad chapter in my story. I was coming home up the same driveway,
in the same truck, but when I got within sight of my house, I could see
my boys (nearly teenagers now) running behind the house, or scurrying to
cover, or desiring to be anywhere but in my presence. I can't tell you
the hurt I felt. What had changed? Well, they had been involved in
a plethora of unsavory activities ranging from major to minor, and had
no desire to see how I felt about any of it. They strategized that
the best course of action was to avoid me all together until things cooled
down; Till they could do some good to counter act the effects of their
bad behavior.
Let's turn the Spiritual Switch. Many of us are living the same way.
We are fully aware we have let God down, and almost without thinking, our
plan is to avoid God until that magical (nonexistent) day when we can prove
ourselves worthy, or at least till we do enough good stuff to outweigh
the bad, and so restore (by my good efforts) the broken relationship.
God has some things to say about that which most of the world takes
as bad news, but to the Christian, it is liberating. "For all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" - Rom. 3:23.
"Knowing that a men is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might
be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for
by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Gal. 2:16.
It's a straw man. You can't be good enough to earn salvation, and you
can't be good enough to maintain it. If you insist on trying to,
you will hit the wall we call "THE CRISIS OF BELIEF" and likely give up.
Who gets the victory in that? Satan does, and he has had enough victories
in my life. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should
boast." Eph. 2:8-9
Most of us are familiar with the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15)
who took his inheritance early, and rebelled against his father by running
to the bright lights of the big city to fall into a sinful life of drugs,
sex and rock n roll. Noteworthy is the fact that the father let him
go, as does our Heavenly Father. Also noteworthy is the fact that after
the lad hit rock bottom, and came to his senses, he returned home to submit
himself to the father's rules. Here's the thing. We don't know if
that took six days, six months or six years, but when he returned,
the father recognized him from afar. Do you get what happened here?
For however long it took, The Father kept His gaze on the mountain anxiously
awaiting the return of the son. So he could rail on him? No. To restore
him. To love on him, and forgive him. "If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1st John 1:9
Your Heavenly Father is anxiously waiting for you to return to Him.
Hi is "faithful" (He will) and "Just" (He Can) to forgive
you completely. Why? "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine own sake, And will not remember thy sins." Isaiah
43 25. Why would you spend your life hiding? Waiting to earn something
that can't be earned? What a great God we have. Happy Easter.